Delaware Park All-Source Handle Increases

A.R. &amp;amp;quot;Rosie&amp;amp;quot; Napravnik became the first female jockey to win the riding title.

The 113-day live racing season at Delaware Park concluded Nov. 6 with the total and average daily all sources handle increasing over the figures for 109-day meet in 2009, the track reported.

The 2010 live racing season ended with an all sources handle (live on-track and live simulcasting) of $181,071,299, a 7.2% increase over the 2009 live racing meet. While the average number of starters per race was down slightly from 2009, the average all sources handle per day was up 3.4%. In 2010, the average all sources handle per day was $1,602,401 compared with $1,550,256 in 2009. A release from the track did not provide a breakdown of live and simulcasting handle volume.

“We are very happy with the figures from our live racing meet,” John Mooney, executive vice president of racing at Delaware Park, said in a statement. “In the face of increased competition on the East Coast, Pat Pope and the racing office crew did a fantastic job attracting top caliber horses.”

During the meet, Delaware Park introduced the "on-track exacta pool bonus," which was introduced on a promotional basis. The on-track exacta pool bonus reduced the on-track take-out and gave winning on-track exacta players a bonus of more than 10% of the payoff. For the 37 days the promotion was conducted, the total approximate amount of on-track bonuses returned to winning players was $78,112.

“We received lots of positive feedback on the exacta bonus from our customers,” said Delaware Park senior vice president Mike Vild. “We intend to evaluate the program during the off-season with the goal of expanding the promotion to other on-track wagering pools next year.”

Jockey A.R. "Rosie" Napravnik became the first female jockey to win the riding title at Delaware Park with 126 winners. Juan Vasquez ran away with the training title, recording 83 wins. Midwest Thoroughbreds narrowly won the leading owner title by recording 44 victories, edging out Florence Patitucci who recorded 43 victories.